Sunday 6 March 2022

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – CHRISTMAS AT CARTWRIGHT’S

 

A single mom, Nicky Talbot (Alicia Witt) is going from door to door to find a job and boost her finances but without success.

Then a friend tells her that a big store is hiring so she goes along and gets a holiday job at Cartwright’s department store but not as floor staff, she gets the job as Santa Claus in the grotto.

This was achieved when an angel, Harry Osbourne (Wallace Shawn) entered her life and brought about some positive changes, including the spark of a new romance.

She of course was unaware that he was an angel and she thought he was from corporate.

Her head elf in the grotto was Peg (Linda Kash) and she thought Nicky was wonderful in fact everyone loved Santa Nick, except the evil Fiona Aldrich (Gabrielle Miller) who was her boss.

Nicky’s daughter Becky (T.J. McGibbon) is cute without being precocious and the love interest is supplied very ably by department head Bill (Gabriel Hogan) and her landlady Mrs. Rositani is played by the excellent Jayne Eastwood.

This is a great film, believable yet magical and any Christmas film with an Angel in it gets my vote.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – HELP FOR CHRISTMAS

Although she loves Christmas, Christine (Summer Glau), who is an elf from Santa's village, wonders if there could be more to life than making toys at the North Pole.

So when Santa receives an emergency wish from a little boy in Los Angeles, he puts Christine on a special assignment in the real world and sends her to L.A. to help the VanCamp family.

Sara Vancamp (Eva LaRue) is a busy mom with absolutely no Christmas spirit and her husband Scott (Dan Gauthier), is little better.

So Christine is to look after the two Vancamp kids, Ally (Izabela Vidovic) and Will (Mason Cook) and give the whole family a Christmas wake-up call.

It is not altogether plain sailing and the question of whether Christine will fail her assignment and be sent back to the North Pole for good, or the VanCamps will come to their senses about the meaning of Christmas is unclear, but it’s fun watching the tale unfold.

The romantic interest is provided by Sara’s brother Dave Gabriel (John Brotherton) and Steve Larkin puts in a wonderful portrayal of Santa. 

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – ROCK AND ROLL CHRISTMAS (2019)

 

Bonnie and Ashlyn Rose (Catherine Mary Stewart and Beverley Mitchell) are an estranged mother/daughter country music duo who are tricked into appearing on stage together for the first time in 10 years by former manager Bret (Michael Dickson) and neither of them are happy about it.

However, a video of their performance is put online by Ashlyn’s daughter Riley (Kelaiah Guiel) and it quickly goes viral.

Riley and Bret convince the “Roses” that they should reunite and release a Christmas single because the former wants a relationship with her grandmother and the latter is in love with Bonnie.

However, there will need to be love, a lot of forgiveness and even more Christmas magic to write a song that perfectly captures the spirit of Christmas and brings their family back together, so can they do it?

Saturday 5 March 2022

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – CHRISTMAS SONG (2019)

 

In the true spirit of the holiday season storeowner Clio (Ashanti) befriends Fred (Stan Shaw), a former jazz musician down on his luck, and welcomes him into her shop to perform for the customers and they form a special bond over music.

Besides their love of performing, Clio and Fred also have their share of family struggles in common, for Clio, she must grapple with the first Christmas since the death of her father, while for Fred, a reunion with his daughter Mia (Sashani Nichole) is just what he needs to give him hope in his life.

Together with the power of music and love the two find the strength to overcome their hardships.

A wonderful movie with a great performance by Stan Shaw who shined in his role, but the music was the heartbeat of the film.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – CHRISTMAS MIRACLE (2007)

This film is based on a true story about an estranged couple who find themselves lost in the Idaho wilderness after in impromptu snowmobile outing.

It was just before Christmas and when the weather turns they are trapped in a blizzard and the snowfall is so great all the trails are hidden.

Lost and alone Suzanne and Jim Shemwell (Jami Gertz and Dylan Walsh) are forced to confront the reasons why they separated.

Meanwhile their family, when they are not looking for Suzanne and Jim, are looking inward at themselves and re-evaluate their lives and their relationships.


Friday 4 March 2022

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – HOLIDAY MIRACLE (2014)

 

On the eve of Christmas, Rockford County Sheriff Rick Langston (Dean Cain) has lost his holiday spirit.

That isn’t helped when he catches a local man who had stolen the baby Jesus from a Nativity scene in order end up in a warm jail cell.

Later he finds a man at his home and Rick naturally assumes he has broken in even though he looks and acts a lot like Santa Claus.

But he arrests the jolly old man in the red suit anyway and places him in jail with the Nativity thief and then both he and Santa open the sheriff’s eyes to a few things.

Unexpectedly Sheriff Langston then meets a woman who has just moved to Rockford named Lucy Hart (Christine Lakin) and after meeting her and her daughter Alana (Sophie Bolen) he comes to realise that even when you feel that all is lost, love is all around you and that his life promises more than he could have hoped for and he had a renewed belief in the possibility of miracles.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – HER MAGICAL CHRISTMAS (2017)

 

Christmas lover Marie (Jessica Lowndes), who is an editor at a publishing house, lost her Christmas spirit after a bad breakup, but in an effort to restore it, each day her mother sends her Christmas ornaments from her childhood, the first is an Angel, and coincidental blessings follow each ornaments delivery.

Her Christmas spirit gets another boost when she meets her handsome neighbour, Nate (Brandon Penny), and feels a definite spark with him while celebrating different aspects of the season.

Marie has been stuck editing nonfiction for two years and when she is finally offered a way back into fiction she wants to edit a children’s book by an old friend, J.P. Presley (Tim Matheson), but instead her boss assigns her to edit the book of the man who caused her holiday heartache, Clark (Stephen Huszar), however he not only stands in the way of the path she wants to take professionally he also comes between her and Nate.

So, as Christmas approaches, Marie is feeling lost both at work and in her love life, so she looks for a Christmas miracle to give her the confidence to pursue her work goals and to try to win Nate back.

She must follow her heart's passion in work and in love and hope for continued blessings from her magical Christmas ornaments.